The two hands have different jobs
Also available in Spanish. The app stops after two lessons a day and suggests something to do away from the screen.
These are the lines the lesson comes back to, and the ones a child actually remembers afterwards.
Short hand: which hour.
Long hand: how far through it.
Straight up is o'clock.
If it is between, it is the one it has passed.
A clock with hands on it looks like a puzzle, and most kids are taught to read it by learning where the hands point, one position at a time, like twelve separate facts. That is the slow way. There is one thing to understand instead, and once you have it the whole clock opens up. The two hands are not doing the same job.
The short hand is between 6 and 7, and the long hand points straight down. What time is it?
Every lesson ends by handing the child something to do off the screen, and telling you what was taught so you can use the same words.
Try this today: Find a clock with hands in your house and say out loud what the two hands are each telling you. The short one first.
Then: Then show a grown-up what half past looks like by pointing, with no clock in front of you.
Twenty-four narrated lessons for ages 4 to 9, in English and Spanish. No account, no sign-up, no ads, and nothing your child does in the app ever leaves the device — you can check that yourself with the network tab open. Open the lessons.